School report cards released

[Guest]

School report cards released
By ERICA HARBATKIN • Staff Writer • February 4, 2009

Buzz up! CENTRAL JERSEY —The state Department of Education released its annual school report card Wednesday, detailing information on student achievement, district finances, post-graduation plans and a range of other data, now available at DataUniverse, MyCentralJersey.com's public records site.

The data showed the usual trends — student achievement continues to correlate closely with school district demographics. High-poverty districts with large immigrant populations, such as New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, produce lower state test scores and college enrollment rates than middle- and upper-income districts with large white and Asian populations, such as East Brunswick and Metuchen.

But on the third- and fourth-grade tests, at least, that gap seems to be narrowing. About two-thirds of New Brunswick's third-graders passed the state language arts test and nearly three-fourths passed the state math test in 2008 — both substantial improvements over 2007, when 67 percent of third-graders passed the math test and 58 percent passed the language arts test.

"I'm thrilled and ecstatic and pleased with the results — but we're not resting on our laurels," said New Brunswick Superintendent Richard Kaplan. "We want to be at 100 percent (passing). This is not about supporting mediocrity; this is about moving as far as one can go."

While many Middlesex County districts posted higher test scores, graduation rates and SAT scores than the state average, pass rates followed a trajectory similar to the rest of the state: Third- and fourth-graders performed better on the 2008 language arts and math tests, but sixth- through eighth-graders taking a redesigned test struggled.

In Middlesex County, the median pass rate on the eighth-grade tests was 86 percent in language arts and 74 percent in math. Statewide, the pass rate was 81 percent on the language arts test and 68 percent on the math test.

Among Middlesex County fifth-graders, the median pass rate was 65 percent on the language arts test and 82 percent on the math test. Statewide, it was 60 percent on the language arts test and 77 percent on the math test.

In 2007, 89 percent of fifth-graders passed the language arts test and 84 percent passed the math test, while 74 percent of eighth-graders passed the language arts test and 68 percent passed the math test.

State education officials say those pass rates cannot be accurately compared because the layout and design of the fifth- through eighth-grade tests changed in 2008. And in grades 5 through 7, the score needed to be deemed "proficient" increased.

"In many cases the bar was raised quite significantly and students did better than they did in prior years on a comparative basis but because the bar for proficiency was raised a lower percentage of them were deemed proficient," state Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy said.

Ten area districts saw a significant upswing in the number of third-graders scoring in the "advanced proficient" range on the state math test. Cranbury, East Brunswick, Metuchen and Woodbridge all had more than half of their third-graders score in that range.

"I think we are headed in the right direction with student achievement," Woodbridge Superintendent John Crowe said. "We need to be certain that we are striving for the prize, which is every student at the very least proficient on our state test and then ever-increasing numbers of students advanced proficient."

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2002, calls for 100 percent proficiency by 2014.

Although third- and fourth-grade scores increased in 2008, those tests are facing a redesign similar to the one the fifth- through eighth-grade tests already underwent. The new test, which students will take this year, has shorter reading passages in the language arts section (resulting in a variety of short passages rather than a couple of long ones) and new types of math problems. Davy said it is too early to speculate on whether the redesigned test would result in a similar decline in proficiency.

Meanwhile, local educators say they expect the success on the third- and fourth-grade tests to make its way up to the middle schools and high schools.

"As they move through the system, by the time this class gets to the high school we hope they will sustain their learning," Kaplan said. "And that will kick in better test scores and better curriculum opportunities for them."

But school districts with high numbers of immigrants, like New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, face challenges that other school districts do not — many students are moving into the district from another country, meaning educators need to address language skills as well as other skills that may not be taught in the student's native country.

"In a bilingual class, you've got a couple of concerns," said Perth Amboy Superintendent John Rodecker. "First of all, that they're on grade-level in their native language, which may not be the case. And secondly, how do you transfer that knowledge into English? In order to do that you need additional teaching staff and resources, as well as smaller class size."

New Brunswick instituted a more focused bilingual program four years ago in which students learn English while they're keeping pace with the rest of the curriculum. This year's test score improvements may partly stem from that change, Kaplan said.

Schools in low-income and high-immigrant neighborhoods continue to have fewer students taking the SAT and going to four-year colleges, but that can be largely attributed to financial barriers rather than the quality of education provided.

Edison's J.P. Stevens High School, Metuchen High School and South Brunswick High School all had about two-third of their seniors reporting plans to attend a four-year college. Middlesex County Vocational's Academy of Science and Engineering had the highest four-year college rate in the county at 89 percent. About 15 percent of New Brunswick seniors and 23 percent of Perth Amboy seniors reported plans to attend a four-year college.

In Old Bridge, where 73 percent of students take the SAT and 53 percent reported plans to attend a four-year college, Superintendent Simon Bosco said he is pleased with most of the report card's results. But, he said, he'd like to see more students taking Advanced Placement tests and move more students from the proficient range to the "advanced proficient" range.

"I'm not satisfied with the percentage of students that we have in the advanced proficient range, so we're really looking at a two-pronged approach here," Bosco said. "How do we get those children who are partially proficient into the proficient range, and how do we move more of those students into the advanced proficient range? That's what we'll focus on for next year."

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090204/EDUCATION/90204030

[Jersey Dad]

Imagine how much more competitive we could be in the global market if we put similar resources toward helping faster kids move ahead as we put behind helping slower kids catch up. Both endeavors are important.

[Jay T.]

Imagine if we removed politics and graft from our school programs in many of the cities and worked to come up with a true and viable state aid program in the state. The focus needs to be on ensuring the money in state aid is spent properly on educational programs and districts as opposed to politicans or new buildings that are expensive project gifts to donors.

[Jersey Dad]

To clarify, my comments are about the state of public education in general and not meant as a commentary on the Cranbury School, whose staff and students should be congratulated on their extraordinary performance.

[Guest]

[Guest]

I do not have kids in school yet. Is the school still excellent teaching and low pressure? Or is it more like WW now with excellent teaching, but high pressure as well? Sadly, in my opinion at least, the schools with the excellent teaching and reports are often high pressure for kids. Cranbury teachers were always excellent and the school received good reports from the state; but the school did not foster or support the competition aspect like in WW.

[Guest]

[Guest]

In my opinion, the trend is towards high pressure: more homework, more tests, etc. If the state tests students once per year, then definitely there will more time spending on preparing for the tests. Whether this is good or bad is debatable.

[Guest]

That's good to hear and thanks for the feedback. I understand the importance of grades, but would sacrifice an A for a B if my child was not feeling like he had to get an A or be a failure. Blaming the teacher to me is outragous. I was also one of the kids who was a summer birthday and started at age 6. I also know I was not a good student, but felt that the education and support I received in Cranbury helped me and that the teachers were supportive. When I did go to HS and then college my grades improved.

I too hear horror stories about the WW pressure and was concerned that this was the state of our schools today. I am glad to know Cranbury has not changed much since my days there.